>> reporter: democratic state senator john whitmire, who chairs the texas senate criminal justice committee, sponsored the junk science bill. he says his state's reckoning with d.n.a. testing paved the way for the law. since 1993, texas has exonerated 57 people, mostly convicted of murder and sexual assault, who appealed with d.n.a. evidence. the highest number of any state. whitmire says that was a moral wake up call. >> i hope it keeps everybody up at night if they think one person is wrongfully convicted. junk science has proven we have numerous people, maybe large numbers nationwide, wrongfully convicted. >> reporter: when texas adopted its junk science law in 2013, it was the first in the nation. last year, california, became the second. junk science appeals are finally making it onto court calendars in texas, but there is no deadline for decisions. >> reporter: so far, only one case has resulted in a new trial. a handful of other cases, including sonia cacy's are waiting to be...